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The Dirtiest Cities in the United States

Plenty of people are drawn to cities because they offer job opportunities, cultural diversity, plentiful entertainment, optimum medical care, public transportation, a vibrant nightlife, and more. Of course, it’s not always a party. City life means traffic, crowds, litter, noise, pests, and lack of space. Factories and high concentrations of vehicles can lead to air pollution that can trigger a large variety of side effects. This infographic combines data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Housing Survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau to create a metric used to determine which metropolitan areas are the dirtiest. Factors include litter, pests such as mice and cockroaches, population density, particulate matter air pollution, and nitrogen dioxide air pollution.